— MUMBAIenerations of Indianshave admired theUnited States for almosteverything. But manyare infuriated andunnerved by what theysee as a wave of racist violenceunder President Donald Trump,souring the United States’ allure.

The reaction is not just anger
and anxiety. Now, young Indians
who have aspired to study, live
and work in the United States are
looking elsewhere.

“We don’t know what mighthappen to us while walking onthe street there,” said KanikaArora, a 20-year-old student inMumbai who is reconsidering herRecent attacks on people ofIndian descent in the UnitedStates are explosive news inIndia. A country once viewed asthe Promised Land now seemsfor many to be dangerouslyinhospitable.

Further alienating Indians,
especially among their highly educated class, is
the Trump administration’s reassessment of H1-B visas
given mostly for
information technology jobs. More than
85,000 are granted a
year, the majority to
Indians.

“America was theland of great oppor-tunity,” SanketBafna, 21, said as heemerged one after-noon last week froman exam at K.C.College, where he is studyingfinancial management. “It’s notThis year, undergraduateapplications from India fell at 26percent of U.S. educational insti-tutions, and 15 percent of gradu-ate programs, according to a sur-vey of 250 U.S. universities bythe American Association ofCollegiate Registrars andAdmissions Officers.

The number of applications
for H1-B visas also fell to
199,000, a nearly 20 percent
decline, according to data kept
by U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services.

Like many others, Indians
were offended by Trump’s promises to block the Mexico border
with a wall and bar people from
six predominantly Muslim countries. Some took solace that India
was not targeted.

But they soon saw that anti-immigrant rage in the United
States did not discriminate.

In February, two Indian immi-grants were shot, one fatally, at abar in Kansas by a man who wit-nesses said hadshouted ethnicslurs and told themthey did not belongin the UnitedStates.

Since then, sev-eral more attackson Indian immi-grants have beenclosely covered bythe Indian newsmedia. While offi-cials have notlinked all to anti-immigrant bigotry,the belief thatIndians are under attack in theUnited States seems cemented inthe minds of many.

About 3. 2 million people of
Indian descent live in the United
States, slightly more than 1 percent of the population, a Pew
Research Center report found.

Most hold green cards and H1-
B visas, and are far more affluent
and educated than the average
American.

Indian-Americans play an outsize role in Silicon Valley, where
some, including Google Inc.’s
chief executive, Sundar Pichai,
have founded or run some of the
most successful companies.

But success stories like
Pichai’s no longer inspire the
jealousy they once did in India.

Arora, leaving H.R. College of
Commerce and Economics,
where she had finished an exam,
said her parents had reservations
about sending her brother to the
United States, where he had been
planning to enroll in college this
year.

Arora said she, like her broth-er, “did aspire to work and studyin America, but I’m reconsider-ing.”The biggest reason, she said,was the violence directed againstIndians.

“Every day, there’s a new
headline about an Indian or
Asian getting killed,” she said.

Now, Arora said, she and others in India are looking more
favorably on Europe for study
and work, despite the upheaval
over Britain’s planned exit from
the European Union.
“Comparatively, it’s considered
safer,” she said.